Nervous and Afraid
by klutz101
Summary: Izzie’s a little distraught about the situation, and Alex is the only one who notices. During ‘Walking on Dry Land’, when our favorite interns hit the ferry scene. AlexIzzie.


Alex and Izzie-- _Nervous and Afraid_

Izzie's a little distraught about the situation, and Alex is the only one who notices. During 'Walking on Dry Land', when our favorite interns hit the ferry scene. AlexIzzie.

* * *

Her palms were already sweating. She couldn't deal with these types of situations. She remembers when the bomb had happened, how she had laughed uncontrollably and used a fellow doctor for sex to feel better. She remembers Denny, how she had lain on the bathroom floor for days, weeks, and months crying nonstop. She remembers how insecure she feels with scissors now and scalpels and knives. She's not just nervous of the unknown situation she faces in a few minutes now; she's now afraid. Terrified even. No, scratch that. She's definitely terrified. 

She feels a nudge from Alex and hesitantly turns her head towards him. He's giving her a worried look, and she smiles reassuringly but it doesn't fool him. He knows something's up.

"You okay?" he whispers, barely above an audible level.

She nods slowly and bites her lip. Her eyes meet his eyes, but then looks away. He still knows something is wrong. "Iz…" he mumbles with a smirk, an attempt to cheer her up.

She looks back up at him, but her eyes are watery. He notices but pretends he doesn't. He looks away.

His hand slowly covers her own, and he squeezes it softly. She knows he cares. She knows he's there for her, but the fear is still in her soul.

"Oh, everybody move your Ids to the outside of your jacket," Bailey starts, interrupting the silence. Alex continues to hold her hand, running his thumb across her knuckles. "When we get there, remember triage. Karev…"

Alex looks up at Bailey and answers her quickly before the Nazi can fully strike. "Green tags non-emergent, yellow delayed care, red tags need immediate treatment." Izzie pulls her hand away sharply, resting it once again on her gear. Alex gives her a subtle look of confusion, but he soon gives Dr. Bailey his attention again.

"Good. But assess carefully, tag, and get all critical patients into the ambulances as fast as possible, don't get in the way of Search and Rescue, and stay calm," the resident directs.

"Any word yet on what happened?" Alex asks. He doesn't ask on his behalf. He wants to know just as badly as everyone else in the van does, but Izzie needs to know. He knows she needs to know or she'll break down.

"All we know is there are multiple traumas." He feels Izzie tense up next to him. He doesn't know what else to do. There's not much he _can_ do. He glances at her; she glances back.

The van comes to a halt, and they thrust forward. Alex braces himself and grabs onto Izzie. She thanks him with a small, sad smile. The doors are opened and Alex counts to three softly before climbing out of the vehicle, Izzie literally right behind him.

They both look up at the scene before them. Izzie is the first to say anything.

"Holy Mother of…" But Alex once again grabs hold of her hand and she turns toward him. Her facial expression is distorted, filled with all kinds of different emotions. He locks eyes with her for the billionth time in the past ten minutes, telepathically telling her to push all her fears and nerves away. It's show time.

She clears her throat, and her once cloudy expression is now a serious one. Her hand remains in Alex's but she makes it less noticeable. She turns to her resident.

"Dr. Bailey, where do you need us?" She's asking the question because she doesn't know where to begin. There's smoke and fire everywhere. People letting out blood curling screams, people crying, people shouting, helicopters flying overhead, sirens going off. It's too overwhelming and she just wants to crawl into a hole and pretend that this is all just a bad dream. But she knows these people need help and she's worked so hard to a good doctor. She almost lost her chance once; she's not going to let it occur again.

"Where should we start first?" She's startled when she hears Meredith speak. She doesn't know why, she just is. Alex squeezes her hand yet again, letting her know it's all going to be okay. She just wishes she could believe it.

"Dr. Bailey…" She says again. She's not sure if it's just that Bailey can't here her over all the noise or that Bailey's nervous and afraid too. She doubts it's the latter.

"Yeah, um, I don't have time to hold your hands, you know the protocol. Go do it," Bailey says, taking a few steps away from her interns.

But Alex interrupts her. "Do what?" He needs more specifications. Izzie's not the only scared intern there. He is too, but he's not willing to show it.

"Go help people." Izzie's not so much confused about the helping people thing as she is about how she's supposed to do that. She glances down at Alex's and hers entwined hands. She smiles sadly at him.

Alex smiles back. "Don't get hurt out there, Doll Face." He gives her a quick wink before smirking. She laughs for a millisecond before she abruptly stops. Alex is closer than he was before. She doesn't know why for sure, but her hearts beating faster. He simply places a sweet kiss on her right cheek before pulling back. He's giving her a serious look. "I mean it."

Alex then starts to walk away, his hand slowly drifting away from hers as he does so. Next thing she knows, he's gone. Lost in the throng of people, blood, smoke, and stretchers. She ponders the last words he said to her, before walking away as well.

And she thinks that his statement just might get her through this. Or at least she hopes.

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reviews are encouraged. flames are not. :) 


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